Loan periods other than three week loans are indicated by coloured labels on the spine of the book as follows:
Some books are held in our High Demand collection which is a two hour loan. Ask at the Help Desk for these.
Items can be borrowed via the self-issue machines in the Link Zone. You will need your ID card in order to borrow. The machines print receipts: keep hold of these. If you are borrowing a DVD, remember to unlock the case on the way out. Any member of Library Staff will be pleased to help you with finding and borrowing items.
Undergraduates
10 items
Postgraduates
15 items
(Education students on postgraduate courses are limited to 10 items)
Researchers
15 items
University staff
15 items
Automatic renewal: if an item you have borrowed has not been reserved by another user, it will be renewed automatically the day before the item is due. You will receive an email to let you know that the renewal has happened or if you must return any reserved items.
You don't need to wait for automatic renewal; you can renew any time:
You can check the items you have on your account, and see that they have been renewed, by accessing your Library Account.
There is further information about renewing print items here, and our guide to using the Library catalogue may also be of use:
Return items using the Self Service machines within the Link Zone. Always check the receipt to see that all of your items have registered.
When the Library is not open, use the Book Return Bin, outside of Eagle Bistro.
Reserving items
On the library catalogue, find the item you need and click on the Reserve button. Enter your student number (the eight-digit number on your student card) and Library PIN. We cannot accept reservation requests by telephone.
An email will be sent to your university email account when your reservation is ready for collection from the Library Desk.
You can check the status of your reservation by clicking on the 'My Account' link from the Library Catalogue and logging into your borrower account.
Your reservation will be kept at the Library Desk for one week, after which it will either be made available to the next borrower in the reservation queue or returned to the shelves if there is no queue.
If an item becomes overdue because we were unable to renew automatically, we will send an overdue reminder to your university email account after one week. If you fail to return the item we will then send you two further reminders. If items are still not returned you will be sent an invoice for the cost of replacing them. If you do receive an invoice please act on this immediately as the matter is then referred to the Finance Department.
If you think you have misplaced an item please contact the Library Desk as soon as possible.
Your fine needs to be less than £5 in order to borrow or renew items.
If you have accrued fines because you were away from the University due to some mitigating circumstances please contact the Library Desk:
Telephone: 01204 903094
Email: The Library Desk Team
The University of Bolton has access to over 10,000 ebooks that can be accessed on any device with an Internet connection. Ebooks can be accessed via Discover@Bolton, the Library catalogue, or if your tutor wishes you to consult a specific book, through Resource Lists Online.
To access an ebook, click on the link to the title and login with your Network ID and password.
You can view the items you have on loan, track Inter-Library Loans requests and find if reserved items are ready for collection.
A help guide on getting the most out of your library account is available:
Search by book title, author or keywords and find the location of the items on the Library shelves.
Resource Lists Online (RLO) allows you to access module reading lists, and provides links to electronic resources from within that list where available. RLO is also accessible via Moodle.
For further help with RLO, take a look at the quick start guide:
The Library has a small print reference only collection. There are two online reference sources which are accessible via the links below and via Discover@Bolton:
Discover@Bolton includes ebooks and print books held by the library, as well as giving you an option to search for open access ebooks.
Search by book title, author or keyword.
Our Discover@Bolton guide has information and videos to help you search effectively.
Ebooks are included in both the library catalogue and Discover@Bolton. However, you may also wish to use the ebook platforms themselves.
Multidisciplinary ebooks from one of the largest content providers in academic research. Our EBSCO Ebooks guide has "how-to" videos, information about accessibility features and more.
